Read & Study the Bible Online - Bible Portal
Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 29:7-17

We have here Job in a post of honour and power. Though he had comfort enough in his own house, yet he did not confine himself to that. We are not born for ourselves, but for the public. When any business was to be done in the gate, the place of judgment, Job went out to it through the city (Job 29:7), not in an affectation of pomp, but in an affection to justice. Observe, Judgment was administered in the gate, in the street, in the places of concourse, to which every man might have a free... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 29:12

Because I delivered the poor that cried ,.... This honour and esteem he had not because of his grandeur and riches, because of his worldly wealth and substance, but because of the goodness of his disposition, and because of the good he did to men, his acts of pity and compassion to the poor, and of the justice he did to all men; the poor and the afflicted, when they cried to him for help, he delivered them out of the hands of their oppressors: and the fatherless ; the care and defence of... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 29:12

Because I delivered the poor that cried - This appears to be intended as a refutation of the charges produced by Eliphaz, Job 22:5-10 , to confute which Job appeals to facts, and to public testimony. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 29:1-25

From these deep musings upon the nature of true wisdom, and the contrast between the ingenuity and cleverness of man and the infinite knowledge of God, Job turns to another contrast, which he pursues through two chapters ( Job 29:1-25 ; Job 30:1-31 .)—the contrast between what he was and what he is—between his condition in the period of his prosperity and that to which he has been reduced by his afflictions. The present chapter is concerned only with the former period; and gives a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 29:1-25

Job's second parable: 1. Regretful memories of bygone days. I. DAYS OF RELIGIOUS HAPPINESS . In tender elegiActs strains Job resumes his monologue of sorrow, casting a pathetic glance upon "the times of yore," already faded in the far past and gone beyond recall; not the days of his youth (Authorized Version), hut the autumn season of his mature manhood, when, like a field that the Lord had blessed ( Genesis 27:27 ), groaning beneath the exuberance of its harvest fruits, he was... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 29:1-25

Wistful retrospect of past happy days. I. PICTURES OF MEMORY ; HAPPINESS FOUNDED ON THE FRIENDSHIP OF GOD . ( Job 29:1-10 .) 1 . Friendship with God the source of happiness. ( Job 29:1-5 .) This is beautifully indicated in figurative expressions. He thinks of the days when God's light beamed upon his brow, by God's light he walked through the darkness; the days of his ripe and mellow age (rather than of his "youth"), when the secret, i.e. the intimacy, of the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 29:1-25

A mournful reflection upon a happy past. Job had lived in honour and great respect. He was "the greatest of all the men of the East." The Divine testimony concerning him was, "There is none like him in the earth." Job's was an enviable condition, and his own words indicate how sensible he was of it. In his mournful utterance, made as he looks back upon a dead past, we see wherein consisted his happiness; and we learn what arc the elemental conditions of the highest felicity in human life—at... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 29:8-12

The character that wins respect. Job paints a glowing picture of his honoured condition in past days. Then he was more than prosperous. He was treated with great deference. Let us gather up the traits of the character that wins respect, and in order to do so let us distinguish them from false grounds of deference. I. FALSE GROUNDS OF DEFERENCE . 1 . Power. Multitudes cringe before mere power, either in fear of giving offence or with a hope of gaining some advantage. The... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 29:12

Because I delivered the poor that cried . And again the Inscription of Ameni-Amenemha: "No little child have I injured; no widow have I oppressed; no fisherman have I hindered; no shepherd have I detained; no foreman have I taken from his gang to employ him in forced labour" (ibid; vol. 12.63). And the fatherless, and him that had none to help him . Championship of the poor was anciently regarded as characteristic of the wise, good, strong ruler. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 29:12

Because I delivered the poor that cried - This is spoken of himself as a magistrate or judge - for the whole description relates to that. The meaning is, that when the poor man, who had no means of employing counsel, brought his cause before him, he heard him and delivered him from the grasp of the oppressor. He never made an appeal to him in vain; compare Proverbs 21:13; Proverbs 24:11-12.And the fatherless - The orphan who brought his cause before him. He became the patron and protector of... read more

Group of Brands